Purasan and a holding tank?

Looking at a houseboat that’s in a no discharge lake, and it has a Purasan system hooked up to a holding tank that gets pumped out.

Why would someone plumb up a system like this? Does the Purasan make the holding tank more “pleasant” smelling?

Not sure why they would do that...

Looks like you are looking closely at a houseboat. You might want to check out the forum at Houseboat Magazine:
Houseboat Forums

The Purasan system treats waste to kill bacteria and probably most smell, but does nothing about its BOD (biological oxygen demand) load that depletes oxygen in lakes and seas.

It does make the waste less smelly so it would make the pump out experience a bit more pleasant.

You could just remove it and go straight to the holding tank.

David

I don’t know anything about a Purasan system— are they hard or expensive to keep going? Boat blackwater systems seem
to be my kryptonite! This was a very nice smelling boat however, so maybe the Purasan thingy helps. No hint of an odor.

Raritan has two marine waste treatment systems, the Lectrasan and the Purasan. Both do the same thing: kill the bacteria in the waste with chlorine. The Lectrasan generates the chlorine from salt water using electricity. The Purasan uses chlorine tablets such as are used in swimming pools and hot tubs.


So the Lectrasan uses power and the Purasan uses tablets. The tablets aren't that expensive, maybe 10 cents per flush.


David

Oh, well that seems pretty straightforward I guess, except for all the hoses. Maybe the chlorine tabs keeps the hoses smelling better.

I just ripped all the hoses out of my other boat and put in a composting toilet, and I swore I would never do that job again. [emoji30]

I like the composting toilet, but the hose removal job was way too gross. At least on this houseboat there is a big crawl space under the floor and it’s pretty easy to get to all the systems. Smooth plywood floor, and the current owner uses a mechanics “creeper” to move around he said.

It discharges sanitized waste to the holding tank, but that tank is going to be charged with bacteria that will grow in short order. So, there really is little point.

cardude01 said:

Looking at a houseboat that’s in a no discharge lake, and it has a Purasan system hooked up to a holding tank that gets pumped out. Why would someone plumb up a system like this? Does the Purasan make the holding tank more “pleasant” smelling?

Click to expand...

I'm guessing that the boat is/was on a river where the discharge of treated waste is legal. If not, the owner spent a lot more than necessary on a misguided effort (desperation drives people to do strange things!) to reduce odor out the tank vent...'cuz although the PuraSan does reduce bacteria to <10/100 ml, only one of the li'l buggers has to survive to quickly multiply into zillions in summer heat. So the PuraSan actually serves no purpose on an inland "no discharge" lake.


If you buy the boat, I'd remove it and (depending on its age) put it on eBay. And I'll be glad to help you modify the tank venting to create the air exchange needed to provide enough oxygen to the tank to prevent odor from being created....for less than 10% of what he paid for the PuraSan.



--Peggie


"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't completely understand it yourself." --Albert Einstein